Janet raised her eyes. "I didn't know," she said. She was pleased.

Leduc smiled. "Right now you are overwrought, ma chere. Let me prepare you a little something to soothe you while we talk, eh?"

She didn't hesitate; she was gratified to have found someone in whom she could confide. Even yet, she could not grasp the full horror of the despicable abuse her own Paul had subjected her to. It was beyond the bounds of her frustrated reasoning power to comprehend it. She wept quietly again as the doctor moved about his compact quarters with efficient ease.

It'll never be the same between us, she thought. It can't be. No matter… the scars will always be there. Oh Paul, how could you?

"Now, if Madame will just slip out of her jacket and raise her sleeve," said Leduc, approaching the distraught girl with a hypodermic syringe, its needle tipped in cotton.

His smile seemed to allay her solicitudes, but the sight of the needle made her catch her breath. She hesitated, looking up at him questioningly.

"I-Is it necessary, Doctor? I abhor needles…"

"Please," he replied, gently but firmly. "It's but a mild tranquilizer and its effect is more rapid when administered intramuscularly, ma chere. Then, we will chat, eh?"

Janet did as he bade, hardly feeling the insertion. Then, as she sat once more, he gave her a small glass of amber-colored, sweet tasting liquid he described as a balm to the genitalia, the reference immediately embarrassing her.

"Under the circumstances… after what you've already told me, Madame, I'm certain the remedy will offer welcome relief to you," he went on, not looking at her but writing on a yellow form as he spoke.

Janet flushed and she was angry with herself for doing so. Good Lord, she had to realize that she was a grown up married woman now, and it was high-time she cast aside at least some of her Puritanistic monomania. Perhaps… perhaps had she done so a long time ago, as Paul had suggested, none of this would have happened, and at this very moment they would be in each other's arms making beautiful, tender love…